It has been said that coverage of Santander has been lacking due to the lovefest for fellow up-and-comer Dorssys Paulino. As an unabashed Paulino supporter, let me go ahead and recognize what Santander is doing so far in Lake County.

In fact, let's give him the top of Around The Farm to himself.

Paulino's struggles are well-documented, but Santander hit the ground running with the Captains. The power that he does have in his bat has not shown yet, but the switch-hitter is hitting the ball well (he currently owns a .270/.325/.324 line) and does not seem overwhelmed at the plate (4:1 SO:BB). Now, 10 games is far too small of a sample size to draw conclusions from and there are obviously things for Santander to work on, but at the very least, it is hard not to feel good about what the switch-hitter has accomplished in a few weeks at Low-A.

Tim Fedroff (LF, Columbus): 3-for-3, 1 R, 1 RBI, 2 BB, 1 CS. Fedroff may be a forgotten man when it comes to the big league picture, but when he is on, he simply gets the job done like he did Wednesday.

Jeremy Hermida (DH, Columbus): 1-for-2, 2 R, 1 HR, 3 RBI, 3 BB. Part of the reason Fedroff is kind of forgotten is that Hermida is likely the first outfield option that will be called up from Columbus. The former top prospect is performing well, getting on base and hitting for power with a .256/.408/.464 line.

Cord Phelps (2B, Columbus): 2-for-5, 1 R, 1 HR, 1 RBI, 1 E. I just cannot give up on the switch-hitting second baseman. There is just too much talent there to keep struggling at the major league level and some of it was on display here.

Toru Murata (SP, Columbus): ND, 4.2 IP, 11 H, 7 R (6 ER), 1 BB, 3 SO, 1 HR. Pitching was not the organization's forte Wednesday as Murata and others struggled to hold opponents in check. Murata is not a high-level prospect, so he needs to perform much better while he is in Columbus.

Jesus Aguilar (1B, Akron): 2-for-4, 1 R, 1 SO. Wednesday was a mixed bag for Aguilar. The two hits are nice, the continued lack of power is not good, and the strikeout is his 38th. More of the same from the first baseman.

Bo Greenwell (LF, Akron): 1-for-3, 2 RBI, 1 BB. Greenwell's two-run single in the fourth inning gave the Aeros a 3-0 lead they quickly relinquished. Anyway, it is nice to see Greenwell healthy and hitting after he missed a few games last week.

Bryce Stowell (RP, Akron): 1.0 IP, 1 H, 3 R (0 ER), 2 BB, 0 SO. All of the runs Stowell allowed were unearned, but that error came early in the inning. Stowell's control escaped him and he walked the bases full and set the stage for the runs to come in on a double he allowed.

Jose Flores (RP, Akron): 1.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 SO, 1 HBP. It may have been in garbage time, but Flores notched his eighth straight scoreless inning. The right-hander does not have big-time stuff, but he does have a 0.92 ERA this year.

Jerrud Sabourin (1B, Carolina): 2-for-4, 1 SO. Say it with me: Sabour-tooth tiger. Will this guy ever stop hitting? Wait a minute, forget I said that. I don't want to be the one jinxing the Sabour-tooth tiger.

Tyler Naquin (CF, Carolina): 2-for-4, 1 R, 1 BB. Two more hits as Naquin comes exactly as advertised: an advanced college bat ready to move quickly through the system. I expect to see him in Akron this summer, though he could use limiting those strikeouts (36:11 SO:BB in 37 games).

Francisco Lindor (SS, Carolina): 1-for-4, 1 R, 1 2B, 2 RBI. Lindor just keeps hitting. He has the defense, he has the makeup, and now that bat people were (wrongly) complaining about last year is shining through clearly. I totally buy Lindor as a candidate for the best prospect in baseball on 2014 lists.

J.D. Reichenbach (RP, Carolina): BS (2), 2.2 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 0 SO. Now two of Lee's runs were let in by Reichenbach, who ended up with the blown save despite not allowing a run as a result. Reichenbach has still thrown well in 2013, posting a 1.33 ERA and 12:5 SO:BB in 20.1 innings.

Vinnie Pestano (RP, Lake County): 1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 SO. This was a nice and easy outing for Pestano, which is all you want to see out of a major league player rehabbing in the minor leagues.

Blake Wood (SP, Lake County): ND, 1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 SO. Starting pitcher in name only, Wood did a very good job of using pitches efficiently and getting his inning in. That is much better than the last time he pitched in Akron (0.2 IP, 1 H, 1 ER, 2 BB). Growth!

Jake Sisco (RP, Lake County): W (1-2), 6.0 IP, 6 H, 4 ER, 2 BB, 5 SO, 3 HR. Sisco, the real "starting pitcher" for Lake County Wednesday, had a pretty good outing if we ignore the three home runs. Since we can't, though, let's just say this was a decent outing that got the job done.

Claudio Bautista (2B, Lake County): 1-for-3, 2 R, 1 HR, 4 RBI. The good news is that Bautista hit a grand slam yesterday. The bad news is that his season line is .105/.150/.263 in only six games. The flash of power is nice, but what Bautista really needs to do is hit consistently when he is given the chance.

Erik Gonzalez (3B, Lake County): 3-for-5, 2 R, 1 RBI. Yesterday was a good day for Gonzalez at the plate. Unfortunately, most of the year has not looked that good (.258/.308/.387 line, 31:9 SO:BB). Granted, 3-for-5 days are not common, but come more hits and walks will go a long way toward helping Gonzalez be more consistent at the plate.

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User Comments

Andy

May 16, 2013 - 1:00 PM EDT

What do you think of Haase? He's got a respectable AVG/OBP/SLG slash line of .255/.297/.455 as a 20-yr old in Low-A, but he's striking out in 30% of his ABs. He had 7 E's and 11 PB's in only 28 games last season, which makes the 5 E's and 3 PB's so far in 19 games seem like an improvement.

Santander and Paulino are still the best hitting prospects on that Lake County team. Washington is playing well for sure, and I'd like to see how he handles the Carolina League. It may still be some time before he moves up, as noted and explained by the front office in Minor Happenings later today.

Sid Monge

May 16, 2013 - 8:12 AM EDT

Outside of Washington, do we have any viable hitting prospects at Lake County? I look at the roster for the Caps and it looks like it is void of upside hitters or pitchers outside of Paulino, who may have been pushed up too fast.

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